Chapter 739 Ascension to the throne

Chapter 739 Ascension to the throne

Chapter 739 Ascension to the throne
On the first day of October, a grand coronation ceremony was held in Luoyang.

Thousands of drums were beating, the sound of drums was shaking the sky, and amid the enthusiastic cheers of hundreds of thousands of people, Yang Xia, the third-generation descendant of Sui Yang, officially ascended the throne and changed the reign title to Taiping.

The new emperor issued one decree after another. The first was to posthumously confer the title of Daye Emperor on the late emperor, and to give him the temple name of Emperor Wu. Xiao was honored as the empress dowager, and the Baiyun Temple on Qingcheng Mountain was named Taiyi Palace. An annual offering of 10,000 strings of money was required, and Xiao Chunyu was honored as Taiyi Mingde Tianshi.

In addition, Princess Cui Yu was canonized as Queen, the eldest son Yang Chu was canonized as Crown Prince, and the other four wives and concubines were all canonized as Imperial Concubines.

The second son Yang Ren was named King of Zhao, Yang Yi was named King of Qi, Yang Xin was named King of Chu, the fifth son Yang Cong was named King of Yue, the eldest daughter Yang Junjun was named Princess Tiantai, and the second daughter Yang Qianer was named Princess Jinyang.

All other officials and soldiers were rewarded. Xiao Xia also issued an edict of amnesty for the whole country, and the whole country was jubilant.

Xiao Xia held his first grand court the day after he ascended the throne. At dawn, as the cloud boards in the Ziwei Hall rang, three hundred officials above the seventh rank walked along the Longwei Road into the hall.

The four Grand Secretaries of the Imperial Academy walked in the front, Gao Jiong, Su Wei, Xiao Cong and Yuan Xiaoju. Behind them were the five Prime Ministers, Liu Wenjing, Zhang Yunqiu, Pei Wen'an, Xiao Yu and Pei Ju.

After them are the Shangshu, Shilang, Jiuqing, etc. When Xiao Xia employs people, he has to consider merit, seniority, talent, as well as faction, and try to strike a balance.

The two most important positions were the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, which was held by Wei Zheng, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, which was held by Fang Xuanling. Xiao Xia also kept his promise and appointed Fang Yanzao as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. It was a good story that the uncle and nephew both served as Vice Ministers.

There was also a Yellow Gate Minister, who was of the third rank. He was responsible for reviewing imperial edicts and government decrees, and was of great importance. Yu Shinan was appointed to the position.

Zhang Liang was appointed as the Chief Censor in charge of the Censorate.

Xiao Xia retained the Internal Guards and the Privy Council, and Li Luming continued to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Internal Guards and the general. She was the only female official of the third rank in the court.

The Privy Councilor was Pei Wen'an, who also served as the Minister of War, but the real military power was in Xiao Xia's hands, just like Emperor Wen of Sui. The tiger talisman and the military plaque for mobilizing troops were in the hands of the emperor.

"Long live, long live, long live my emperor!"

All the officials bowed with great ceremony, and Xiao Xia waved his hand and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Except for the four Taiko Grand Secretaries who had seats, all other officials stood.

Xiao Xia then slowly said, "Generally, when a new dynasty is established, all kinds of affairs are waiting to be dealt with, but we are different. We have only changed the etiquette system, and the substance of government affairs remains unchanged. Today's first grand court is mainly to set rules for future grand courts. We must be simple and pragmatic, and oppose lengthy and cumbersome. Now, please allow Prime Minister Liu to tell everyone about a new tax system reform."

Liu Wenjing was appointed as the Minister of the Secretariat, responsible for drafting various government decrees and imperial edicts, so it was called "the Order comes from the Secretariat". Liu Wenjing was also in charge of the Ministry of Personnel.

Although Xiao Xia was nominally the third monarch of the Sui Dynasty, in fact everyone knew that he was the founding monarch, so Xiao Xia had to set an example in many aspects and set the rules, especially the boundary between the power of the prime minister and the power of the monarch, which was one of the most difficult issues in all dynasties.

Once the boundary between the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister is clearly defined, the descendants of Xiao Xia will be able to enjoy long-term stability.

Liu Wenjing stood in front of the Danbi and said loudly to everyone: "As everyone knows, our salt tax has been implemented for nearly ten years. While implementing the salt tax, we also reduced the household tax and land tax. After ten years of operation, we have gained sufficient experience. According to the emperor's request for recuperation, after the approval of the Zizhengtang and the emperor, starting from the first day of the first month of next year, the household tax will be completely abolished for thirty years, and the land tax will be one in thirty, and it will only be levied on land owners."

This is actually the land tax, which only imposes a low land tax on landowners, while no tax is imposed on landless people and urban residents. On the one hand, it is to recuperate and restore the national economy and population destroyed by war.

On the other hand, it was to increase the population. Although there is no clear data yet, the population of the Sui Dynasty decreased by at least 10 million.

The court meeting was over after only half an hour. After the court meeting, all the officials walked out of the hall. In fact, holding a court meeting did not have much significance. It was more of a ritual and was also the thing that all officials feared the most. Not only did they have to set out before dawn and be bleary-eyed, but they also had to stand for two or three hours at a time. No one could stand it and in the end, after a lot of wrangling, nothing important could be resolved and the prime ministers still had to communicate and coordinate privately.

So Xiao Xia made a rule that the grand court should be held once every ten days and should not exceed one hour. Usually, all government offices would report at noon, which is 8 o'clock in the morning. As long as you were at your seat before 8 o'clock, there would be no problem.

This regulation is particularly friendly to middle-aged and elderly officials. Otherwise, the officials would have to get up in the middle of the night, and the whole family would be troubled.

Pei Ju walked out of the office, and an attendant came forward and bowed, saying, "Prime Minister Pei, His Majesty has summoned you!"

Pei Ju nodded, "I'll go right away!"

Pei Ju was the Shangshu Zuo Pushe and Minister of Rites, in charge of sacrificial offerings, education, diplomacy and other affairs. Soon, Pei Ju came to the imperial study.

The imperial study was still the imperial study of the former emperor Yang Guang. He waited for a moment, and a young eunuch came out and said, "Prime Minister Pei, please come in!"

Pei Ju hurried into the imperial study and saw Liu Wenjing, Zhang Yunqiu and Pei Wen'an there. Although Liu Wenjing was the right prime minister, he also served as the Minister of Personnel, so he was also called the Prime Minister of Personnel. Zhang Yunqiu was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and was the Minister of Finance. Pei Ju was the Minister of Rites, Pei Wen'an was the Minister of War, and Xiao Yu was the Minister of the Palace, in charge of rules and had the power to seal and refute various government orders and decrees.

Many rules are inherited from the Jiangnan General Administration Office and are different from the previous imperial court. For example, the imperial edicts and government decrees are the former Jin Wang Orders and Shangshu Xingtai Orders. The imperial edicts must be discussed and approved by the Political Affairs Hall first, and have the seals of the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel before they can be submitted to the emperor for approval. After the emperor approves and agrees, the imperial edict is drafted, and finally it is reviewed for compliance by the Menxia Province's Jieshilang. Only after the review is correct can the imperial edict be issued.

There was an official office in the Menxia Province called Jieshi Zhong, which was headed by the Huangmen Shilang and consisted of sixteen Jieshi Langs, eight of whom were in charge of incoming and eight of whom were in charge of outgoing. They performed strict compliance reviews. For example, if an important government order that should have been decided by the emperor was only approved by the prime minister, then the order could not be issued, and the Jieshi Lang would directly reject it and go through the process again to report to the emperor.

At the same time, the Jieshilang classified various government affairs from the very beginning, including which ones needed to be approved by departments, which ones needed to be approved by the prime minister, and which ones had to be reported to the emperor. If there was an emergency military situation, it would be directly decided by the emperor, and the Privy Council would also submit it to the Jieshilang for compliance review afterwards.

The existence of Jieshi Zhong was of great benefit to regulating the power of the court, greatly reducing various wranglings and clarifying the powers and responsibilities of officials.

Pei Ju bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"

Pei Ju has been in charge of the diplomacy of the Sui Dynasty for a long time. He has been on diplomatic missions to the Turks many times and has a deep understanding of the Turks. This is why Xiao Xia summoned him today.

"Prime Minister Pei, we are discussing the promotion and implementation of the salt tax, and we mentioned the control of private salt. I want to know the source of salt from the Turks and other nomadic peoples. Does Prime Minister Pei know?"

"Your Majesty, I know a thing or two. The main source of salt for the Turks is trade. We built the Great Wall to prevent invasion by the Turks and to prevent smuggling by merchants. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, we have not banned salt in the grasslands, so salt has basically not been smuggled. It is transported to the grasslands through trade exchanges. This is the main source of salt for the Turks.

The second is to transport it from the Donghu. In the past, Goguryeo also exported a large amount of sea salt to the grassland, but this channel has disappeared. Finally, merchants from Youzhou will also go to Junduxing to sell Pingzhou salt to the grassland. It is estimated that it is the largest source now. "

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and asked, "What is the impact of the Turkic occupation of Yanchuan County?"

(End of this chapter)